The DRE Dictionâry

(written in reduced DRE)

The Tentativ Amèrican Reference for DRE,
shòrtened tu
TARDRE, iz a
30,000 wôrd "dictionâry" for DRE. It iz ov
còurse
not a
dictionâry in the traditional sense, fûll ov definitions
and
etymolojies. It iz rather a list ov fairly common Ênglish
wôrds,
paired with their reprezentations in DRE.

While DRE iz a rùle-based system, for mâny wôrds it
iz not
possible tu
lojically deduce how they woûd be respelled in DRE. Wunn
reazon
iz that different peaple hav different pronuncìations. If
you
pronounce <turquoise> with a /kw/ sound, you woûd wont to
spell
it differently from the way you'd spell it if you pronounced it with
ónly a /k/. Anôther difficulty is that a wôrd
míet be áble tu be
respelled in several different lejitimat ways. For instance,
<disapprove> míet be respelled az disaproóve or az disaprùve.

Wunn
way that a spelling refòrm like DRE míet deal with theze
ambigúities iz tu embrace them, and tu say that you shoûd
spell
az you
speak, and that âny spelling that comúnicates an
acceptable
pronuncìation iz permitted. The problem iz that this just
izn't
how réal-wôrld spelling operates. The process of
lerning
and
teaching spelling caulls for standard
spellings; I dón't think my teachers éven accepted the
concept ov
vârìant spellings until I woz in hý
scoól.
The réalities ov
publishing ar anôther factor. No publisher woûd
wont tu hav tu
publish books in a Western spelling edition, an Eastern spelling
edition and a Sôthern
spelling edition - they wont wunn edition for the entire
US. And, for that
matter, when we read a Stéven King novel, we ar not especially
intrested in hiz pronuncìation - we wont tu read it in a
standard
reprezentation, without having tu deal with ocázional odd
spellings
reprezenting hiz Néw Êngland accent.

(I'd better note, for the recôrd, that I am not so foólish
az tu
believe that Stéven King will somday be publishing novels
spelled in
DRE. DRE iz a personal amuzement, and five peaple intrested
enuff tu master it woûd count az a prêtty amazing
success. At
the same time, I am
trýing tu make DRE somthing that coûd
actjùally be uzed, never mínd that the
réal-wôrld chances
ar less than
thoze ov my suffering a direct hit from a killer asteroid. A
spelling system without an athòrity iz an absurdity, so I am
providing
TARDRE az that athòrity. In the fantasy wôrld
whâre DRE becôms
coól and sweeps the nátion, wunn or more dictionâry
publishers woûd
wont tu sell DRE references, and TARDRE woûd becôm a
històrical
cúrìosity, sùperseded by the wôrk ov thoze
professionals hoo knów how
tu turn wôrd lists intu mônéy.)

Mý conclùzion iz, thârefore, that if DRE iz tu hav
âny pretensions at
aul tu béing ov âny use, thâre haz tu be a spelling
reference that
decrees particülar pronuncìations (tomátó,
not tomàtó) and
specific spellings (disaprùve,
not disaproóve).
The spellings dón't reprezent my speech (more on this later),
and they
wón't reprezent yours exactly éyther. But I hope
they wón't be
aul that fàr from your pronuncìation (at least, if you'r
an Amèrican),
and that the differences wón't be so sêrìous az tu
giv you májor
problems.

The list of wôrds in TARDRE woz taken from the 12dicts packaj,
which
iz a public dómain packaj containing several lists of common
Ênglish
wôrds. See this
site
for more information on 12dicts.

The pronuncìations reprezented by the spellings in TARDRE ar
based on
whot I caull CLAEP, Consensus Lexicographical Amèrican
Ênglish
Pronuncìation. Whot this rather pretentious acronym means
iz the
follówing: Az I compiled the dictionâry, whenever I
had a wôrd hoos pronuncìation I woz éven the
tínìest bit unsjùre ov, I got the
prímâry pronuncìation from each ov the
Merrìam-Webster and Amèrican
Hèritaj dictionâries az well az the Lòngman
pronuncìation dictionâry, and let the
majòrity rùle. DRE iz aulso afected somtimes by
British
pronuncìation (az in the réspelling ov <watch> az wotch) - I uzed Lòngman az a
reference hêre. The net rezult iz that the
pronuncìations
reflected in TARDRE dón't agree exactly with âny ov theze
sòurces, but
thâre iz som level ov athòrity behínd them.
I'v discôvered, az
I wôrked on TARDRE, that thâre ar substantial differences
between
the
CLAEP pronuncìations and som ov my ówn, which iz good
since I dón't
feel that a dictionâry reflecting just my ówn speech iz
much use.

Wunn ov the benefits ov a dictionâry such az TARDRE iz that it
mákes it
possible tu write a computer prógram which will translate a text
in
traditional spelling intu DRE. Such prógrams hav a mixed
repütation in the spelling-refòrm wôrld, in
particülar becòz relýing
on a prógram interfêres with the lerning process,
and fínding how
difficult the lerning process iz iz an impòrtant pàrt ov
evalúating a
sêrìous refòrm propózal. Despite my
agreement with this
consideration, I am wôrking on such a prógram. If
âny reader ov
this paje fínds the possibility of such a prógram
exciting, send me
an e-mail (Alan at wyrdplay.org), and I'll consider making it available.